Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Corvallis, OR

I slept in this morning, until 7:30. By the time I showered, cleaned my gear, and made an excursion to the local Safeway, it was noon. And it was raining.

But that was no big deal, right? After all, I'm now in the Willamette River Valley. It's only about 60 miles to Eugene, and we made that in a day last time.

But that was in good weather, and probably with a tailwind. Rain doesn't do much for a biker's speed. And then there was the wind. With the coming of the rain, it had shifted around to the south, and at times was gusting to 20 mph. It made for a steady 6 mph pace on the flat. Eugene? No way!

The bike path south of Rickreall

The Willamette Valley looked much the same as it did in 1981, with many of the fields used for research crops. The valley is one of very few places in the world that is perfect for growing filberts. It looked much the same, but a whole lot wetter. The highlight of the day was encountering a model train hobby shop in the middle of nowhere, along the bike path that runs for ten miles or so south of Rickreall on Highway 99W. I stopped in to check it out, and the proprietor talked my ear off for a good hour.

A sea of white: crop research

Wherever you go, you'll find the town dump. Or county landfill. Or whatever. Approaching Corvallis, I saw a gigantic one. I just had to take a snapshot of the sign showing the name of the road. It kinda goes along with the one from the Whalen Island post, doesn't it?

Appropriate place name

What with the late start and all, I was glad to stop in Corvallis at 7pm. The Motel 6 here is much nicer than the local motel in Dallas, and has great wi-fi. I splurged on a meal at Pastini, across the street, then crashed once again, and awoke at 2:30 am to clean my gear and try to pump out some text.

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Map Notes

Unfortunately, the mobile version of Blogger does not permit the placement of photos within the text, nor titling of the photos. You will just have to guess which photos go with what text.

You can see a Google Maps route map associated with a daily post by clicking on the first link (up there in the from-to text). However, note that Google Maps on Android does not permit the customization of maps, so these maps do not reflect the route I actually took: they show only what Google Maps thinks is an appropriate bike route between the starting and ending spots.

The real routes are provided in the TransAmerica Trail maps published by the Adventure Cycling Association, information from which is used here by their kind permission. You can, of course, use these Google Maps as a starting point for planning your own trip. But keep in mind that the Google Maps routes do not always coincide with the TransAmerica Trail maps, and of course do not show all the extras that are included on those maps. I strongly recommend that you purchase the Adventure Cycling maps. They contain much more detailed information about the routes, and include history, points of interest, lodging/camping information, and emergency contacts for the areas through which you will be passing.

About Me

After forty years bustin' my butt as a computer programmer, I up and quit. What comes after retirement? Read my blogs and find out.
Note that, unless you know me personally, they will bore you silly. And if you do know me personally, it won't be much better.